Elegant Broken Things
by ninajunkie
Summary: He had no idea how this Ministry party would go, only hoping the minutes would tick by quickly. Then the moment he saw the light bounce off her diamond dress paired with her absolute elegance, he knew she would become part of his final undoing. AU.
1. Elegant Broken Things

**Elegant Broken Things  
Part One  
**

Agreeing to attend a party that an individual would enjoy was one thing, but accepting an invitation to a party where the same individual would spend the night rolling his eyes and quietly insulting the other guests in his head, was another matter entirely.

With the Ministry of Magic expanding their departments and obtaining more resources, a party of interesting sorts had been planned as a means for all the new employees and expanding companies to get a chance to become familiar with each other.

In Draco's mind, he thought the Minister and his board of governors were a bunch of old batty men and overly vivacious women. He assumed a new employee directory would have sufficed.

Upon walking in through the gigantic double doors of the mansion, Draco offered a few greetings to the gentlemen he already knew personally as he made his way up the expansive rounded stairway to the second floor. The reason for this destination was because the open bar was located on the long landing, between the two symmetrical staircases.

He ordered his favourite drink that included a heavy mix of the finest Firewhiskey the bar had. If he was going to be at this rotten party, he might as well try and enjoy himself in the best way possible. Stepping away from the bar, he headed across the landing and leaned upon the heavy oak railing that offered him a great view of the downstairs entrance.

He took a small sip from his glass and let his eyes wander.

Many men were in fancy tail-coats adorned with black ties and different variations of the same hat, all mingling with each other. The women were the most itinerant ones, with flashes of shiny dresses in between the sea of black fabric: lavender, jade, black, silver, and every other colour in between. They virtually all wore the same type of up-do, extravagant necklaces with matching earrings, and dull stained lips.

Sure, they were pretty. However, he knew them personally whether they were co-workers' wives or co-workers themselves, and frankly he didn't think too highly of them. "_Too scatty_," he thought. They were decent ladies to work with while work was being done at the Ministry, but as far as catching their attention, there would be no second thought to it.

The view was becoming quite discouraging and he surely couldn't stand looking at the ocean of coworkers much longer. He was about to turn around and walk away to the back garden when someone walking up the stairway caught his attention.

A woman just about his age walked effortlessly up each step despite the high heels she was wearing. There was something that seemed to stick out about this woman that Draco couldn't quite figure out, but the way she walked, unlike the other women at the party, was a perfect lead to finding out.

His grey eyes stayed fixated on her as she smoothly made her way to the bar and received a glass of dark red wine. After taking a small sip from her drink she began to speak to another woman at the bar, but details of this additional lady were unnecessary to the blond man watching. The only thing that mattered now was this charming brunette.

He began to try and learn more about her through details.

The dress that was held up by her shoulders was covered in blood red diamonds, shimmering brightly with every slight movement of her hips. Despite her wearing the most exquisite, yet simple dress in the room, what stood out the most to him were the stark white gloves that covered her skin almost to her elbows.

Draco dared to imagine what her hands looked like without that blasted fabric encasing them. Thoughts of how soft her skin would be began to overload his mind.

Before his emotions could take control of every last sense, he tore his eyes away from those gentle fingers wrapped around her wine glass, and moved them away.

Her deep brown hair ran down her back in gentle curves and waves, far better than those beautiful locks being tied in a knot atop her head. Her simplistic style made her far more elegant and far more desirable.

A deep red shade covered her lips, iridescently matching her dress. They moved with ease as she talked in a gentle manner. Her brown eyes glowed with a passion underneath her dark-shaded lids and without acting frivolous like the rest of the female company, were animated as she spoke to the other woman. Her eyebrows moved fluidly along with her facial expressions and her bare shoulders would shift slightly when she stopped her conversation. He noticed her eyes again and wondered if the low candle light in the room had enhanced their colour or if by chance her features became smoldering the moment she had noticed his eyes focused on her.

Her crimson lips curled up at the corner, the grasp on her drink shifted, and the diamonds on her dress started dancing again as she sauntered over to him.

"Hi." Her eyes shone impossibly brighter.

Placing a slick smile on his face in return he replied with a simple 'hi' as well.

"And who might you be?" she asked, placing her gloved hand on her hip, resting her other arm, still holding her glass of wine, on the railing that he had been leaning on for the past half an hour.

"Draco Malfoy." He tipped his hat down with a slight bow in greeting. "And you?"

She held out her hand to him and at the same time he captured it within his own, she replied, "Hermione Granger."

He bent down and kissed the top of her proffered hand regardless of the gloves still decorating them.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Granger."

"Nonsense, Mr. Malfoy. The pleasure is all mine, as I have been hopeful to meet you tonight."

Unable to stop it, a smile grew on his face.


	2. Simple Dreadful Things

Disagreeing with ones' boss was not an advisable course of action, but Draco Malfoy couldn't help the predicament that he found himself in. The only question he silently asked himself in that moment was whether to continue pestering the person or to give up his quest and return to work.

"Really, Potter! It would be in _your_ advantage to switch partners on this case." The continuation to pester had won.

"Malfoy," the other man said, annoyed, "why are you persistent about this? You have worked with him before."

"He has nothing to offer me on this case. However, Weasley would be more than just a tag along on your case. His endless conversations and random ramblings of Quidditch would prove as an asset to you."

Rubbing the brim of his hat, Draco tried to act unbothered by his predicament, as if he could care less at keeping this man on his own case or not. His words, however, just continued to contradict his actions.

"For the life of Merlin, please tell me how switching partners would benefit _you_."

"Well…" he started, sitting straighter on the armchair in the office. "Word has been making its way around that the new girl in the department is especially talented in Wizarding history…" He trailed off, staring at the movement-filled painting behind his boss's desk, even though he had no interest in it.

"You need to convince me more than that, Malfoy."

"Look, Potter, I am on the verge of breaking this case." Draco leaned closer to the desk, placing his palms flat on the desk and standing up, making his point more evident. "With Granger's help, we can find out who would be interested in stealing these types of documents. All I can do at this point is to continue taking stabs in the dark."

Harry Potter rubbed his chin with his wand, shuffled pieces of parchment on his desk, and then scribbled a quick note with his quill, and gave a resigned, "fine, Malfoy." He folded up the parchment, sealed it with the official seal of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and handed it to his most recent exasperating employee.

"I'll make sure she's aware that you two will be working together starting tomorrow morning. When she meets you in your office, give this to her."

He flipped the hat in his hand before placing it atop his head, tilting it down in departure, before cocking it on his slicked blond hair.

"I owe you, Potter," he said, turning to leave.

Before he made it out the door, he heard his boss say something.

"Remember, Malfoy: she's _not_ an Auror. She's also my best friend!"

...

He wasn't quite positive what had possessed the Wizarding population to start adapting Muggle fashions, but he was bloody well thanking whomever that was the second he saw Hermione Granger approaching his office.

A charcoal grey pencil skirt covered her legs to the top of her knees and she wore a lovely golden coloured cardigan with brilliant white pearl-like buttons. Her hair today was different than it usually was: pulled up into a high bun, and nothing more would have pleased him to take her hair down for her.

This woman had been slowly undoing him at the seams ever since they first met at the Ministry party and he became aware of how intrigued she had been to meet him. She hadn't stopped walking around in his mind since he had said goodbye to her that night.

It had been very fortunate for him that she had transferred to his department.

His heart skipped a beat when she walked into his office, let the door close almost all the way, and sat down on top his desk.

"Morning, Mr. Malfoy," she greeted, crossing her legs.

When he said nothing in reply except for a sly smile and the removal of his hat, she continued.

"I hear you have requested my assistance with your case."

"Indeed, I have." He placed his hand on top of hers, loving the feel of her fingers moving underneath his palm.

"You're lucky it didn't take Harry much to convince me," she said, running her hand up and down his arm.

Before he could lose all restraints and pull her down into his lap, she grabbed the files behind her and went to the chair across from him to scan them over.

"Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures… What a shame for them to lose such a dazzling woman."

"It was time to switch my focus to helping humans this time around," she answered, her eyes never leaving the records and her smile never leaving her lips. "The cases are probably just as dreadful."

Having found a need to calm his emotions, Draco went and retrieved two cups of tea while he allowed her time to read the case notes. He added a splash of cream into her cup, just like he remembered from the past week, and put just a dash of honey into his. With another wave of his wand, he set her cup down in front of her just as she was placing the files back on his desk.

"The Medieval Assembly of Wizards… interesting."

"Yes, it seems someone else thinks that the assembly documents are awfully interesting. Enough to steal them, even." He took a sip from his cup, keeping his eyes locked on hers.

"Should be simple enough to figure out. It also seems that our national library needs more security measures." Her eyes matched her cardigan, he noticed. Or at least the fabric brought out such an intense colour in her eyes.

"That's something I would be more than happy to work on." He set his cup down after taking his last swallow, put his hat back on, straightened his tie, and stood up. Hermione followed his lead.

"Shall we be on our way, Mr. Malfoy?" She placed her arm into the crevice of his.

"Certainly."

In an instant, they were gone.


End file.
